[Digikam-users] DAM, DAM with Digikam. Moving files.

[Mark Hayes (Hotmail)]

Dear all,

Following a period of just 'playing around' with the software, I am just starting to really try and use Digikam as a serious part of my workflow.  As such, I have a bunch of questions that I can't seem to find real answers to - either in the documentation or the website etc, so I'll just post them here and see if you can point me in the right direction.

I'll send multiple e-mails with different headings to help differentiate between them all - and help make it easier to read later.

Firstly - DAM (Digital Asset Management).

I have read the (thoroughly excellent) DAM Book, by Peter Krogh - and would recommend it to anyone who is serious about preserving and then finding their photos.  It has really helped me mould an idea of what I want to do in terms of keeping my photos accessible and searchable etc.  And I'd like to follow some of this through with Digikam.

However, not being very competent with databases, I just don't know if some of the methods he describes will break links etc in Digikam.

In particular - Krogh moves photos about a lot during the process.  I mean, he physically moves through a bunch of folders as part of the process, until they end up in the final filing location, all completed and fully set out with metadata.  For example, he downloads them to a specific folder, renames them, and then moves them to another holding folder for review.  Then in that new folder they are reviewed and rated, metadata attached and then moved out again.

My question is this - will moving files within a folder structure 'lose' files within Digikam?  Will it cause problems with Digikam not knowing where to find a particular file or which file to associate a particular set of metadata with?

Is this correct?  And if so, how might I get around that?

Should I do it only 'inside' Digikam?  Will Digikam automagically update the database info?  What happens if I was to move them in Dolphin?  Does this cause problems and break things?

Any help on clarifying this would be most helpful.

Thanks,

Mark.